When I was barely twenty
When I was barely twenty
I worked nights in a Wall Street bank
Doing the things done when the bank slept
I was a cog but thought I was a person
One dim early morning 5 AM perhaps
While handling some mail I spotted
A periodical of interest and briefly
Slid down the wrapper that held it
To read the T of C on the cover
That was my one false move
For a cog of a truer sort
Turned me in that morning
So that when my work was done
An official called me in to tell me I was fired
For violating the sanctity of a wrapper
That had an important person’s name on it
What’s worse he lectured me on my transgression
As if taking away my job wasn’t morality enough
To this day his motives remain uncertain
Though we can perhaps hypothesize
More certain is that he’s long gone
Deprived of the little life he’d hoarded
1/21-1/24/09
Copyright 2009 by Maurice Leiter
Posted with permission
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